The government’s consultation on zero-hour and short-hour contracts opened today. What happens next will determine whether the rights in the Employment Rights Act deliver on Labour’s promise at the General Election.
Everyone should have the right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work. Labour’s manifesto promised this right for all workers – and that’s what working people expect Labour to deliver. But employers have been lobbying hard to limit it to people on low-hours contracts, and unfortunately the Government is currently proposing to go along with this. We’ve just read the Consultation document, and as it stands the Government are proposing to limit the right to a Guaranteed Hours contract. They say they think the cut off should be somewhere between 8 and 20 hours a week – so anyone with a contract above that simply wouldn’t have this new protection at all.
That would mean not delivering on the Manifesto promise, leaving many workers unable to count on a stable income and making it harder to plan childcare, pay bills, and build a secure life for their families. I often hear from USDAW members juggling shifts week to week, never quite sure what pay they’ll be taking home on pay day. But that’s not all – we think it will actually make things worse than they are now for many workers, as employers give more shifts and overtime to those who already have more hours in their contract. Those under the threshold (disproportionately women, disabled and BAME workers) could find they are actually worse off, with fewer hours and less pay than they have now.
We cannot stand by and let that happen. And now the consultation is out it’s crunch time.
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Now that the Employment Rights Act has passed, there is a real risk people think the job is done. But bad bosses certainly don’t. That’s why this consultation matters. We have to make it really clear to the Government that workers want and need this right to apply to everyone – just like they promised.
Zero and short-hours contracts make it impossible for many working people to build a stable life. Parents and carers can’t be sure when they’ll be working from one week to the next, making childcare difficult and expensive to arrange. I know this causes real stress for many workers and their families, who are left worrying about whether they’ll earn enough to cover the rent or the weekly shop. And when hours aren’t guaranteed, workers can feel unable to speak up when things go wrong at work – because the threat of losing shifts is always hanging over them. Working people deserve better than lives built around uncertainty and last-minute shift cancellations.
Everyone should have the right to a contract that reflects the hours they actually work. That’s a simple principle, and a fair and reasonable one. That’s what Labour promised at the election. But now it’s time to deliver, so we have to get the Government to change their mind. Rights on paper only matter if they are delivered in practice.
Add your name: https://labourunions.org.uk/guaranteedhours , and we’ll be back in touch soon about how you can make your voice heard in the Consultation as well.
Joanne Thomas
Chair of Labour Unions
